CHOCO-GIANTS KISS, MAKE UP

Helen SierraCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Beautiful Burlington, Wis., has settled a trademark dispute with Hershey Foods Corp. and will continue promoting itself as ''Chocolate City USA.''

Burlington agreed to add more of a curlicue to the tip of the Nestle morsel in its ''Chocolate City USA'' logo to more clearly differentiate between the Nestle and Hershey candies. Burlington is home to Nestle Foods Corp.-parent company is Nestle S.A., Vevey, Switzerland-and won approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1988 to use the logo design. But Hershey objected, saying Burlington`s logo was too much like Hershey`s trademark

''Chocolate Town U.S.A!,'' a candy bar, and ''Chocolate World,'' a Hershey tourist site in Hershey, Pa. Hershey also contended the logo`s Nestle morsel too closely resembled a Hershey chocolate kiss. Now that Hershey`s objection has melted away, ''Chocolate City USA'' can continue planning its annual chocolate fest, May 15-17.

NEW HOMES FOR MAXWELL WINES An auction of the late Robert Maxwell`s 3,000-bottle wine and champagne collection generated about $160,000. Christie`s auction house says the proceeds bubbled well over expected sales of between $104,000 and $138,400. Within weeks of Maxwell`s death at sea Nov. 5, his Maxwell Communication Corp. PLC caved in under the weight of debts. The wine auction proceeds, however, are just a drop in the bucket of the empire`s more than $4 billion debt.

INTREPID FINDERS Two 3rd-graders in Wyckoff, N.J., who donated a 1912 Navy machine gun they found in a pond to a military museum were made honorary members of the Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum`s underwater exploration team, and their names will be on a plaque identifying the weapon. Chris Siegel and Jon Tilli found the nearly 5-foot-long Hotchkiss machine gun, among the first machine guns made, early this month in Wyckoff. Jon`s mom, Linda Tilli, gave the weapon to police and it eventually wound up with officials of the museum. It must soak for 8 weeks in a rust remover, though, before being displayed in the museum in an aircraft carrier docked on Manhattan`s West Side.

SINGER GETS CHOPPING ORDERS Singer Diana Ross has let the tall weeds grow too tall for the City Council of Bessemer, Ala. The council voted this week to have the weeds cut on a vacant lot she owns and to tack the $200 cost onto her property taxes. If she doesn`t pay up, the property will be sold. The former Supremes lead singer bought the lot from her grandfather ages ago.